Monday 10 January 2011

Review in Publisher's Weekly

A fantastic review of Psychiatric Tales in the 1/10 Publishers Weekly:

“Speaking with compassion and clarity, Cunningham tells of his own struggles with severe anxiety and depression, creating a valuable tool for both those within the mental health profession and casual readers who may know someone with mental illness.”

Psychiatric Tales: Eleven Graphic Stories About Mental Illness
Darryl Cunningham, Bloomsbury, $15 (160p) ISBN 978-1-60819-278-6
In this debut book, Cunningham tells his reader right away that he has a message to impart. Having worked for years as a health care assistant in a hospital's psychiatric ward, he states his intent to counter the stigma surrounding mental illness and to represent the patients who suffer from "this most mysterious group of illnesses." The down and dirty truth about what it takes to care for dementia patients, the acts that self-harming patients are capable of, and the conundrum of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia all make for powerful, informative, and sometimes difficult reading. Cunningham's message, that "a mental illness is a brain disease just as a stroke or a brain tumor is a brain disease," is delivered in direct, no-nonsense language, while black and white drawings convey the hectic life of the disordered mind. Cunningham frequently speaks directly to sufferers, telling them that their symptoms are not their fault, that there are ways of dealing with them and simply that "you can survive." Speaking with compassion and clarity, Cunningham tells of his own struggles with severe anxiety and depression. creating a valuable tool for both those within the mental health profession and casual readers who may know someone with mental illness. (Feb.)

4 comments:

Liza said...

Wanted to tell you how much my partner and I have enjoyed "Psychiatric Tales". I'm studying illustration and he is a student Nurse and we are both susceptible to depression. It was as if you'd written the book for our benefit - so, thank you!
All the best and warmest wishes for your future.
Liza Smith and Brad Harrison
PS we heard about your book from Sarah McIntyre's blog.

Darryl Cunningham said...

Thank you, Liza. That's very much appreciated. My story is so universal that it seems to be everyone's story.

Darryl

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Samantha said...

It's a really fantastic review regarding mental health. When a person suffers from deep anxiety and depression, he or she has to struggle much. It's true, mental illness can last longer for many reasons. Excessive frustration, recurrence failure, depression, and other facts are mostly responsible for this that can cause the brain hammering. Anyway, I dived deep into the details of Psychiatric Tales and found some important points to pick up into my learning store. Basically, I was looking for getting good directions and ideas on treatments for anxiety and while browsing I found this precious stuff. I appreciate this contribution.